![]() On Friday evening, the fencing was piled up on the steps of Sproul Hall, which houses the university's administration, and marked with a banner reading "Students for People's Park."ĭelacour understands the need for student housing, but his group feels the university should build in another location and preserve the city landmark and long-time gathering place. The rally took a dramatic turn after about an hour when protestors tore down the fence and carried pieces to Sproul Plaza, a center of activity on the UC Berkeley campus that was the site of many Free Speech movement protests in the 1960s. Protesters gathered in People's Park to oppose UC Berkeley's plans to turn People’s Park into student housing. Protesters take down a fence that surrounded People's Park in Berkeley, Calif. "Construction is not anticipated to begin until 2022." "The project will be considered for approval by the UC Regents later this year," Gibson wrote in an email. The project is in the early stages with the building design being finalized while the environmental analysis is completed, according to Kyle Gibson, a spokesperson for Capital Strategies. In addition to student housing, the People’s Park housing complex would provide up to 125 apartments offering supportive housing with onsite services for homeless people and low-income residents as well as open landscaped areas Located in the center of the Bay Area's high-priced and famously tight real estate market, UC Berkeley has long faced a housing shortage and according to a 2017 survey it "has the lowest percentage of beds for its student body of any campus in the UC System." The survey also found that 10% of respondents self identified as having experienced homelessness at some point while attending UC Berkeley. At no time will the entire park be closed." "Once samples are collected, temporarily closed areas of the park will reopen. "Public safety is our primary concern," according to the statement from Capital Strategies at UC Berkeley. 16, to protect the public as engineers obtained soil samples, which involves drilling and boring into the ground. The university said in a statement the fencing was installed temporarily, Jan. on to oppose UC Berkeley's plans to turn People’s Park into student housing. Protesters gathered in People's Park in Berkeley, Calif. The situation escalated into "Blood Thursday," when a clash between demonstrators and police left one person dead and several injured. In 1969, UC Berkeley surrounded the park with a fence in an attempt to reclaim its land that the community had appropriated and turned into a gathering place and park with trees and flowers. This isn't the first time a fence has been a symbol in a battle over land use between protestors and the university. "It creates a barrier to those who are trying to bring food to the food insecure." "It's the driveway folks used to bring food to the encampment," said Teague, referring to the people without housing who have pitched tents in the park. Lisa Teague, who joined the Friday protest and objects to the housing project, said the fence is problematic because it blocks the driveway. There’s probably a river bed under the land. Hopefully, they won’t be able to build a 17-story building. "Basically it’s the first time in the 50 some years where they have gotten this far where they’re investigating the land. “Of course we don’t like the fence," said Michael Delacour, who was a leader in the original group that commandeered the university-owned land as a free public park in 1969. The rally was triggered by the installation of a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence that still allows access to the park but obstructs three areas of the park to allow the university to safely conduct soil analysis as part of preparatory work for the project slated to provide housing for up to 1,200 students.
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